We've already covered what's been included in GDR2 from Microsoft as well as the Amber firmware update from Nokia, but there appears to be more pieces to the jigsaw puzzle. An update for Extras + Info has been fired out into the wild that enables Lumia Windows Phone owners who are rocking GDR2 to start blocking numbers and unwanted contact. Yep, this is huge, folks.

The new settings area added, after you've got the latest version of Extras + Info is "Call + SMS Filter," which essentially does exactly what the name suggests. It's a feature we've been praying for since Nokia jumped onto the Windows Phone wagon. With this new blocking functionality, you'll be able to add numbers to your blacklist for incoming calls and SMS to be quarantined.

Microsoft created new APIs with Windows Phone 8 build 10327, which makes it possible for Nokia (and other OEMs) to implement this. We've received reports that this may well be carrier locked, but if you're certain you've updated enough and should be able to use the feature, head into Extras + Info and then back out again to the main settings list to see if the item has been added to the menu (the entry also details whether or not this feature is enabled).

Heading into the call + SMS filter settings area will present you with a few options - fear not, there's nothing major here. All you need to worry about is enabling (or turning off) the filters and managing blocked numbers. The counters below will show how many have been caught. If you head into "Advanced" you can fine tune the filters with settings to block withheld numbers, turn on the Live Tile (see below) and receive toast notifications.

As noted above, Nokia has also made it possible for you to pin a Live Tile to the Start screen, showing how many calls and SMS have been blocked. Pretty neat, we must say.

Be sure to check for an Extras + Info update for your Lumia Windows Phone using this link or QR code below. Thanks, Tung Ha, for the heads up!

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But i can't able to update extra+info,i have nokia lumia 520,i update it to gdr3 with preview app,and when i scan this qr code they tell your device is competible with this app,Before gdr3 i have this app,But after i reset my phone,all going well but not receive update of this system app

While checking out a missed call on the 9th, I noticed the new ;"blocked calls" option on the 925 - tmo. What a nice surprise!!! The Glance/Night mode features are neat too
Thanks MS for releasing the api's n thank you Nokia for taking advantage of them.
Diggn the 925 more and more everyday!

Fair play to Nokia, they are delivering to their users where they can but this really should have been Microsoft's implementation for all devices from day one. For everyone else, this is not good. My 8X is starting to look more and more like my previous HD7; unloved and left behind.

This very good news. Even though I'm on the do not call list, I still get cold calls. No point in reporting it usually since the number is hi jacked. So, I have to pay 5$ a month to stop a number. Now all that I need is GDR 2

@Daniel, withheld numbers = calls that do not show the caller's number. In some phones, it will show "Number withheld". I forgot what Windows Phone shows. Some companies(especially call centers) use it to prevent people from calling back directly to the caller's extension. Oh, and some of those annoying telemarketers use that too (at least they do where I came from).

I just saw the video, was at work yesterday so couldn't see it.
Daniel, The way it works it would either divert the call (from withheld numbers) to voicemail or play a message saying "this person doesnot accept withheld / private numbers).
However in some cases the phone rings and the moment the person picks up it terminates the call.. so it would be helpful if someone did a test run, I'm waiting of the OTA update on my L920 otherwise I'd do it myself lol.
In response to Peng Foong, withheld numbers show up as "private".

Anyone remembering Advanced Call Manager from Symbian? It seems that Nokia knew how to do it right. You could choose your response method: voicemail, sms, reject.. and by reject I mean busy tone right away, not after the caller hears the ringing tone. They knew about white lists and black lists, they knew about how to properly manage a call. And it was intuitive and effective.

Two school of thoughts on that. I would hate, hate, hate for the settings to be sorted A-Z. It looks like Microsoft put on the first screen the settings they thought people would use the most. For me, it is mostly correct and since I'm just an average dude, it's probably correct for a lot of people.
Putting them in A-Z order would drive me crazy. The best option would be to allow people to arrage the order.

Well anyone expecting Three UK to be delivering the GDR2 / Amber update anytime soon will be pretty disappointed.
Two tweets in response to my query today, first from:-
THREEUK "We don't have a date for that just yet I'm afraid, I think it may be coming in for testing soon though"
and the next from:-
THREEUKSUPPORT said "We don't have a date for the release yet"

Not sure why they are the slowest taking things up but they definitely lag behind the major players.
TJ

I don't like the trend that's occurring. Why is Nokia creating apps that should be supported directly by the OS? MS should be building things like this into the GDR2/3/Blue updates, and this feature should be available via contacts, not as a stand-alone app. Also, we need the ability to discretely block services for contacts -- not all or nothing. I'll take it as a gap filler, but this is wrong! All wrong!

Well, Microsoft seems to be concentrating on supporting new devices right now. I'm fine with Nokia doing it their way. They are the dominant supplier of W8 phones. And this new feature that will be perfect for me, I don't need a white list, just a black list.

This will break my heart if GDR2 is not available for the 810. But even if it is, this feature, which I desire above most else, may not be available on Tmobile. Tmob offers call blocking as an add-on service, so I don't think they'll give it away for free.

Adding my do not answer numbers now on my 1020! Awesome feature!
If you call and hang up on a number in your contacts, then you can block it. It just has to be in your call history.
Does anyone know if the blocked list is backed up with other data backed up on WP8 phones or if you have to start over with a new or hard reset phone?

This can't come fast enough... I have been harrassed by this number "02921961008".. O2 can't block it and they said there was nothing they could do. Yesterday I had 19 miss calls.. and today I have had 6. The first few times when I picked up there was no answer I thought it was a friend who was travelling had a very crappy line but I quick search revealed this.

This can't come fast enough... I have been harrassed by this number "02921961008".. O2 can't block it and they said there was nothing they could do. Yesterday I had 19 miss calls.. and today I have had 6. The first few times when I picked up there was no answer I thought it was a friend who was travelling had a very crappy line but 1 quick search revealed this.

Right - but Nokia has 81% of WP8 the same way Samsung has 81% (or whatever the percent is) of Android - they spam the market. Nokia better PREY it stays this way too, because Samsung could easily turn their spam towards Windows Phone and dominate it.

Has anyone figured out how to block a contact? I see that you can do it from the call log, but I can find no way to block an existing contact. Do you have to wait for them to call you, or am I missing something?

That sucks, the carriers in USA are amongst the worst in the world, an operator/carrier should be a dumb pipe not a dictator controlling software updates, phone sales, internet tethering, charging for incoming, forcing expensive contracts etc.. But T-mobile may change this situation with their recent consumer friendly moves.

And the answer for your first question in Yes, you will be charged for incoming as SMS is blocked at phone-level and not on network-level.

cool addition but microsoft really needs to get that settings list in some sort of a more usable order. also it'd be great if these oem customizations could be added as pivots to existing settings menus..

Got this update about 30 minutes ago. Too bad gdr2/amber are taking 10 years to release for my 521. Would be nice to use this to block harassing bill collectors. How does it work? Does it answer and hang up?

Student loans get pushed aside for everything else. If my job paid accordingly to what it demands, then it wouldn't be an issue. 10 years is a joke. Tmobile takes too long to "test" and push out these updates, especially since there are only 3-4 WP8 devices on their network.

Just want to understand... If in case I buy an unlocked phone from Walmart or ebay and use a prepaid service, do I still need to wait for the carrier to send me the GDR2 or will the OEM send me the update?

I will just have to wait its a nearing realease anyway gdr2 updates in lumias are more feature-packed than in any other wp8 device just be patient i think the reason for this (in my opinion) is to sell more the L925 and L1020 (which has gdr2 update out of the box )

They charge you for that? You almost have to admire Verizon's tennacity for extracting more and more money from their customers. Not necessarily saying the other carriers are better, since i don't know their block calls policy. Verizon just seems to me to be at the top of the hill when it comes to charging their customers.

Initially I thought, it would be nice to use an US carrier since you get phones at a subsidized rate. But seeing all your comments, it seems like it would be a bad idea. How painful it is to know that a certain service which you love and supported by your handset is deactivated by the carrier.
It's like you have to choose your carrier wisely as you do your handsets.

This is all pretty neat but MS and Nokia at some point need to think about how to clean up and manage the settings menu. It evolves to an endless list of white text, which makes it more and more difficult to find what you are looking for quickly. The fact that there is no fixed order and every setting that gets updated falls back to the bottom of the list doesn't help.

I'm not either. I'm talking about SMS, and my reply would be "Of course, everyone uses SMS". You said SMS, not "texting" so I'm not referring to WhatsApp, Skype etc. Every single person I know uses SMS regularly. Only a small percentage (maybe 5-10%) would bother with WhatsApp etc. SMS works on all phones, WhatsApp requires a smartphone and is beyond the skills / interest of people like my parents. I send / receive SMS messages with them all the time. It is such a fundamental feature, like making a phone call.

Not sure if this is a joke? My question was about SMS, which I believe is a default texting service from the phone (carrier). Whatsapp is texting too duh but im asking does anyone still use SMS. Because most of the ppl I know use a specific "3rd party app" to text because there are more features. Not the default. I hope im clear enough? Its not that hard to understand really.
Unless my understanding of "SMS" is wrong. There's MMS service from carriers too so the definition of SMS is very obvious.
Just out of curiosity. Seriously.

No you're understanding of SMS is correct. Its just that in USA, texting is synonymous with SMS. If people wanna know if you use kik or whatsapp or messenger, they specifically say do you kik/whatsapp or use man messenger. So it was strange to see you ask if anybody still used basic texting. To you texting encompasses all forms of sending a message. To me texting strictly means via sms

It's not an over the air update. T-mobile has nothing to do with it. All you have to do is scan the QR code above and update your 'Extras + Info' app.
I've got a 925 on Tmobile US and I just updated mine. It works great!

I get what you're saying and it's good that Microsoft have made the API available but it still feels like this is something that should be implemented and built into the core OS of the phone rather than relying on OEMs.

looks like MS realized that Nokia is working faster than they do, so they just implemented the API and moved on. If MS made this all by themselves, we probably would have had to wait until 2015 for this to arrive.
Good for Nokia users, bad for everyone else and the platform in general.

Well, next time you know better what you should buy. Everyone knows that Nokia is a lot more determined with WP. They are working hard with a good user experience and happy customers. HTC on the other hand is just another Asian copycat OEM with "gimme your money and bye bye" attitude.

As an early adopter I think it's unfair to say that. HTC appeared behind the 8X when I bought it last November.
I'm not denying that Nokia haven't been behind WP and are constantly developing it. My original comment was that this should have been built into the core WP operating system rather than Microsoft relying on OEMs to develop features on the phone. Rather than creating a universal phone OS such as the iPhone it creates an 'Android-like' fragmentation.

Incidentally, the main reason I got the HTC 8X was for it's look and feel. I prefered it over the Nokia 920 which felt too cumbersome in my hand. And that in the UK the 920 was only available on EE for the first 3 months with the cost of the phone and plan quite extortionate.

The article says that Microsoft created the API for Nokia and other OEMs to implement this option. Fingers crossed all OEMs add it, and it won't be carrier dependent, as I can just see EE (UK) not allowing this feature!